The victorious ASEB team on Thursday. Picture by Biju Boro

Guwahati, Aug. 21: Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) tonight annexed the GSA-organised Narayan Chandra Mahajan memorial super division league, scraping past debutants Assam Police Blues through a penalty kick taken by the prolific Sanjiba Rongpi. The match was marred by a boorish crowd and player behaviour at the floodlit Nehru Stadium here today.

ASEB finished the league with 24 points from 10 outings, while Blues had to be content with 21 points from an equal number of matches.

Playing in front of a vociferous crowd under relatively pleasant conditions, the powermen pushed hard for a win against an equally determined police team. ASEB medios Karnendu Devbarman, Zenith Sharma and David Goyary took control of the midfield and did not allow the inexperienced Blues any leeway.

Needing just a draw to clinch the crown, Blues did not quite know what really hit them. Their forward duo — Amulya Das and Arun Daimari — did little of note in the opening session and that robbed their attacks of venom.

ASEB, on their part, reeled under an early jolt when forward Utpal Basumatary was stretchered off the turf and replaced by Kishore Das when he suffered a head injury after a nasty collision with a Blues defender. However, ASEB combined well and mobilised some fine moves down the flanks.

Though Rongpi was heavily marked and hardly got the space to operate, his attacking partner Suchungi Releng and Kishore Das ensured they still had enough ammunition in their armoury to keep Blues defenders under pressure. Both sides were locked goalless at the break.

The second half turned into a slanging match as both teams frequently mouthed expletives at one another. Even the referee was not spared.

Every time a decision went against a player, there was a strong exchange of words between the player and the referees, who were under tremendous pressure.

ASEB stepped on the gas and created several openings upfront. A handball by Blues’ Okan Khaglary saw a penalty being awarded to ASEB by referee Joychandra Singh, which sparked off unruly protests from the police players. Rongpi was entrusted with the task of taking the spot kick. The ace forward coolly placed the ball towards the left of Blues custodian Gobindo Boro in the 56th minute to spark celebrations in the ASEB camp and protests from police supporters in the stands, three of which were packed with fans. Rattled by the early second half goal, Blues tried hard for the equaliser but poor finishing coupled with some tight defending by ASEB negated all their attempts.

Play was held up for the second time towards the closing stages as Blues players disputed a linesman’s decision to ignore a foul committed by an ASEB player.

Agitated police supporters hurled missiles from the stands, forcing sports minister Gautam Roy to intervene. He asked the cops to reign in the police supporters.

The teams: ASEB — Sankar Barman, Birendra Narzary, Biman Bose, Samuele Barglary, Zenith Sharma, Karnendu Dev Barman, David Gayary, Kamal Chettry (Nitu Narzary), Utpal Basumatary (Kishore Das), Sushumi Releng and Saniva Ronpgi.

Assam Police Blues: Gobindo Boro, Rubul Borgohain, Okan Khaglary, Subir Goswami, Sanjay Brahma, Monoj Boro, Lakhan Goyari, Debajit Barua, Khirod Das, Amulya Das, Arun Daimari (Digen Das).

League’s Best

Best forward: Padum Rabha (Dynamo). Highest scorer: Sanjiba Rongpi (ASEB). Best defender: Biman Bose (ASEB). Best linkman: Karnendu Deb Barman (ASEB). Best goalkeeper: Shankar Barman (ASEB)